James Richard Reed

LTC(ret) Jim Reed DNP, MSNA, CRNA is a native of Tucson, Arizona and graduated high school from Benson Union High School in Benson, Arizona. Wanting to make something of himself but having little resources, he enlisted in the US Army in October of 1983. After completing basic and advanced individual training he was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. Upon completing his initial enlistment, he matriculated out of the Army and attended the University of Arizona. While a student he served in the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and Army ROTC. He earned his commission as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1992 after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Jim held various assignments in the Army Medical Department including Intensive Care Nurse and Flight Nurse in the Army Burn Unit. He was accepted to the prestigious US Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing, and graduated the program Distinguished Graduate in 2000. Afterward he was assigned to the 126th Forward Surgical Team at Ft. Hood, Texas. He was then selected to join the ranks of an elite medical unit that supported Special Mission Units in Counter-Terrorist Operations in 2001. While a member of this elite unit he deployed 9 times to combat for over 1500 days in war zones. He participated in hundreds of combat missions and administered care to hundreds of casualties. Through his service he earned The Legion of Merit, 5 Bronze Stars Medals, 2 Air Medals, and many other awards and decorations.
After retiring from the Army in 2011, Jim became involved in veteran’s advocacy. Specifically, in the fight against veteran’s suicide. He has lobbied the US House and Senate and appeared before committee in support of veteran’s suicide prevention efforts. He was featured on PBS frontline speaking to the problems of opioid malprescription and addiction among veterans, and the Baltimore Sun. He has appeared as a guest in support of veterans causes on The CBS Evening News, Fox News, and The Megyn Kelly show. He has since been actively involved in a non-profit that provides service dogs to veterans with post-traumatic stress and an outdoors project for veterans.

In 2017, Jim earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Duke University as a Jonas Foundation Scholar. As an avid educator, he is the former Senior Clinical Instructor for the Army Nurse Anesthesia Program at Fort Bragg and Duke University Nurse Anesthesia Program Clinical Coordinator at Firsthealth of the Carolinas. In 2017 he took a position as faculty in the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Nurse Anesthesia Program where he served until late 2019.  He was then asked to go back into industry to direct and manage a multi-million dollar overseas and domestic operational medical effort for the US government and corporations. Jim also deployed overseas providing medical support to the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.

Subsequent to this position and longing to go home to Arizona, Jim accepted a position as Associate Clinical Professor teaching the next generation of nurse anesthetists at his alma mater The University of Arizona.

Jim has been married to his wife Holly for 30 years whom he met in nursing school at the University of Arizona. She has been a practicing nurse for 31 years where much of her career was in the Emergency Department. They have 2 children, their son Nick is an North Carolina State University graduate, a combat veteran from the 82^nd Airborne Division, and serves as a Military Intelligence Officer in the 25^th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Their daughter Heather is a graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point and serves as a commissioned officer in the US Army at Joint Base Lewis McChord and will start law school at the University of Arizona in August of 2022. Everyone in the family to include Holly, has jumped from aircraft while in flight.